Timing is everything in today’s ever-changing housing market, but predicting the best time to buy or sell a home is as dependable as a coin toss, according to Insider. Those who purchased their homes before the mid-pandemic housing boom reaped the benefits of ultra-low mortgage rates and reasonably priced housing. Now, however, with mortgage rates hovering in the 6% to 7% range and home prices just below their peaks, buyers are getting cold feet.
Today’s homeowners have little incentive to move, as doing so would mean refinancing at a much higher rate and contending with less affordable monthly payments. It’s a scenario some experts worry will become a “new normal” even after 2023.
The housing market has changed for good — and with the benefit of time-earned wisdom, we can pinpoint the moment it entered a new era. If July 2020 was the make-or-break moment for the market, we may now be seeing the crystallized "new normal": a fraught landscape defined by a scarcity of available homes, borrowing rates that have sharply rebounded from their historic lows, and homeowners who feel locked in by the deals they scored earlier in the pandemic. Call it the Housing Ice Age.
Related Stories
Market Data + Trends
The Biggest Hurdle for Housing Is Seller Hesitation, Experts Say
Elevated borrowing costs are currently affecting both homebuyers and sellers, with buyers hesitant to spend and sellers unwilling to list and sacrifice the lower rates they've locked in on their current homes
Affordability
A Lack of Listings Is Driving Up Home Prices
Despite fast-rising mortgage rates, home prices continue to increase as hesitant home sellers retreat, limiting the supply of homes for sale
Housing Markets
These Western States Are Seeing Their First Annual Price Declines in Years
Home prices are still rising throughout most of the U.S., but seven Western markets are posting their largest declines in years